Site of Ancient Nilka Copper Mine

Site of Ancient Nilka Copper Mine Located in Lulasay Vaglley near the Kax River to the south of the county seat of Nilka, the Site of Ancient Nilka Copper Mine dated from 2500 years ago. It includes two parts. The first part is the mining area. where now remained over ten vertical shafts about 1 meter in diameter at mouth. around which there are masses of ores and stonewares. The second is the smelling area. Not far away from the mining area there are remained a layer of slag in depth of 1.5 meters under the ground surface, which is 20 meters long, with a thickness of 0.5 meter. According to scientific analyzing, the copper content amount to over 60 per cent, showing then the mining and smelting skills have come to a considerable level. All these provide important materials for us to understand the social situations in ancient Xinjiang. Now it is listed as a cultural site under autonomous region protection.